The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-01-29
POOLING THE BIG BEARS

FOOLlNG THE BIG BEARS.
"One fall, some years ago." said Pratt
to New York Sun correspondent,
III was hunting elk for market on Longs
peak, in Colorado. My camp was near
the edge of high wall which overlooked
a deep canon. This canon was about a
hundred and fifty yards across. On the
opposite wall, which was almost bare of
timber and not nearly SO precipitous as
the one l was above, there was heavy
game trail which led up to the main
mountain. Along this trail many game
animals travelled. One frosty morning I
got out of my blankets, lit my pipe, and
walked to the edge OF the canon wall to
smoke before breakfast While [ was
sitting on rock I saw a large bear
stumbling down the trail on the opposite
bluff. When he was almost directly op-
poslte me he stopped and reared up
against tree, then, standing upright, he
hung on to the tree with one fore paw
and reached up and struck the bark with
the claws OF his free paw. 1 had while
hunting seen several bears do this queer
thing, and / had seen dozens of the
marks they had made by scratching the
trees; but 1 did not know why they did
it. After striking the tree the bear
dropped on all tours, looked up at his
mark, smiled with satisfaction, probably,
and shambled along the trail and out of
sight. Presently saw another and larger
bear walk slowly down the trail. When
he came to the tree which the previous
bear had scratched he halted, looked
quickly up at the scratch, then he stood
upright on his hind legs. and with free
swinging blow he scratched the bark at
least foot higher than the mark made
by the other bear. Then he dropped to
his four feet, looked attentively at the
marks for an instant, and confidently
staggered down the trail.
81 now understood what the bears were
up to. They were scratching their size
and presumable fighting weight on to the
trees, so that all other bears could read
it. Presently little one-eared bear came
into view. He, too, was bound down the
trail. The little fellow was walking slow
ly. He frequently dropped his nose to
the tracks made by the other bears to
smell of them. Then he would stop and
sit up and look around the country to see
if the other bears were in sight. Evil
IDENTIFY he was keeping his eyes open. No
big bear was going to get chance to
grab and chew him il watchfulness on
his part would protect him. When he
got to the pine tree and saw the marks
that had been made by the large bears he
started back as though he had been
menaced with a club. His heart stood
still as he conjured the size and ferocious
appearance OF the bears which had pre-
coded him. He recovered his nerve in a
minute, then stood up and looked around
the country. Then he timidly approached
the tree, and stood up to his extreme
height and modestly stretched up his
paw, but did not scratch the bark. He
was discouraged. He sat on his launches
and looked at the marks, first hanging
his head on one side and then ON the
other, so as to make sure that they were
really there and not optical delusions.
As he sat wagging his head to and fro
and thinking deeply, 1 saw his tongue
begin to loll little. Then he smiled,
showing his teeth plainly. He arose to
his feet and walked up the hill to where
pine pole was lying. He seized it with
his teeth, and dragged it down the trail
to the tree. He sat up, and, holding the
pole between his fore paws, he scratched
the tree about two feet higher than the
point scratched by the largest bear. Then
he threw the pole into the canon and sat
down in the trail and rubbed his nose
with his paw. That bear actually laughed.
Finally he walked up the trail and disap-
peared.
"What the large bears did when they
returned to the tree and saw the mark
away above theirs l do not know, as 1
was not there, but L do not know that
never saw them in that region again, and
it is fair to assume that the little bear,
which 1 frequently saw afterward, had
frightened them out of the mountains by
making them believe that the boss of all
the grizzlies was lounging around that
portion of the range"